We arrived at the top of the mountain, it was completely flat and almost encapsulated by its little ecosystem of flowers, fauna, and trees, forming a circle around the structure.
"The real temple is hidden underneath the worship, I know the way down if you want to visit," he said.
"I don't think they want us in there," I said.
"Why not? You have as much right as any other spirit who reincarnates in this temple," said Dragan his tone heavy.
That seemed about right.
We got close to the temple and took refuge right at the entrance. Fortunately we had a roof over our heads - yet the space was empty and wide. It was like camping out in the middle of some ruins.
Dragan set up a fire in less than a minute, I was honestly impressed at how fast he moved, it wasn't superhuman speed or anything like that, but it was like he was a complete expert, which of course he was. I was discovering more of his talents - aka 'skills" with each passing second.
Back on earth, it wouldn't be possible for a person to have so many talents. Let alone magic!
He finally took a sigh of relief and sat plopped down next to me.
I felt a little bad for not helping, but I've never gone camping before.
In my old life, I didn't have a lot of time to explore my interests.
I worked day in and day out, farming my working skills as much as I could.
But I guess all of that didn't matter anymore, I had to rely on pure instinct now.
Something Dragan was very good at.
This forest was nice and quiet, just really chill. The sun started to set - and the cold night wind flew above us.
As night fell, the color of the sky changed, and the rings floating above the planet could be seen The stars shined across the planet and we could even see the milky way. I even noticed a couple of aurora borealis dancing up above the force field of the forest. We must be close to the northern pole of the planet.
Not a single drop of pollution in its atmosphere, made the stars look so bright.
It was such a trip, galaxies and nebulas could be seen from here. The whole night sky was illuminated with thousands of stars.
Dragan started preparing a meal.
But I was taken aback, I was in shock, I had never seen so many stars in the night sky.
I ran to an open clearing where I could look at the sky all around. Without thinking, I suddenly took my human form. Something must have anchored me in my humanity.
I was still naked mind you.
As I noticed, I tried to cover myself.
Turn back, turn back into a slime. I thought as hard as I could.
But it wouldn't happen.
I suddenly felt a presence behind me.
At my back I felt Dragan push the white rob over me, now I had something to cover me.
He sat next to me in the clearing - appreciating the night sky as well.
I managed to relax. And sit next to him. It was almost romantic.
I made sure he wasn't looking - but I buried my face in the white robe. It smelled like him - I couldn't help but feel a big smile on my face - and a feeling of ecstasy washed over me. It smelled like grass and dirt, like sunshine, like flowers, and that distinct smell of a man.
Earthy sweet with a little bit of musk to it.
This was the first time I got a sense of his smell.
The smell of a man who spends his days trapped in a forest.
"Come back to the fire," he said in a whisper. He grabbed hold of my shoulders, placing his hand around me.
His big hands grabbed my tiny shoulder.
I could feel his muscles pushing against the back of my neck.
Now that I looked at it, my hip was tiny, and I had little to no muscle.
I was a twink.
But that was fine I think I had subconsciously asked for it to be this way.
He let go of my shoulders and started walking back to the fire.
He sat down and rest his back against a wall, while the fire crackled and illuminated his face.
He had placed some kind of soup to boil.
The whole scene was just romantic.
I followed suit.
We sat there looking at the fire in silence - until finally he broke it.
"There's something I haven't told you," he said, his voice almost shy, like he didn't want to be heard, but had to say it anyway.
"What is it?!" I asked leaning in closer, I started feeling the ground with my feet, it was a strange feeling - I had almost forgotten about it.
"Ah -" he tried to start but paused himself. I corked my head and listened in.
"Look, Zomearon spirits are all women, not just because it's convenient," he started talking. "They're all women because when spirit bound with a human."
"Spirit bound?" I interrupted.
"Yeah, contracts with Zomearon spirits are deeper than just a superficial contract," he said.
"They're contracted down to the spirit itself."
He felt a beat.
"It's this next part I don't know how you're going to react-"
Oh god, I had no idea what came next. It could be good, or it could be bad, so I leaned in.
"You can tell me anything -" I said.
He continued.
"I asked you to contract with me, only to protect you, a male spirit is a 100-year-old rare type of deal, so it's your best bet if you stay with me,"
"I know, you're my best bet, I don't doubt you, what are you getting at?" I asked curiously.
He sighed and rubbed the middle of his temple with his fingers.
"To deepen, and strengthen our bond, there's a certain ritual we must complete,"
"What kind of ritual?" I asked. But I had a small hint.
"The kind where we share a deep connection - more than friends - more than brotherly - you know *intimate*."
My eyes sprung open, I audibly gasped and a shy smile came on my face. It stayed there for more than I would rather admit.
"I've just - " he continued. "Never done it with a guy."
Then it just all came together. This was perfect, this was a reason in our story for what was going to bring us closer together. This is what I've always wanted, and right now it was coming true, in a way I certainly never expected it to.
"We have to do it?" I said as dry as possible.
"Do what?" he said.
"You know *it* I exclaimed.
He looked at me curiously while making his left eyebrow go up.
"It - what?" he asked.
"It - the - it!" I was getting frustrated.
"What are you talking about?!" he looked confused. Was this some type of miscommunication? Was it not translating properly?
What's the word I'm looking for?
I sighed.
>Notice
>To complete the ritual users must give out a seed to Prime in the rite of inducement.
We both stopped - like we were holding our breath.
His face turned red instantly, burning hot, like a tomato.
"Y e a h…" he said trailing off and almost dying from embarrassment.
"Perfect," I said, I don't mind at all.
He perked up. I saw a shy cautious smile coming on him.
"This is why Zomearon spirits only reincarnate as women, so that bonding rituals are much easier to complete, among other reasons," he said calming himself down.
"And with a man, I don't know where to start," he said, I got closer.
"Don't worry, I might have some experience," I said smugly grinning.
"Does the ritual need to happen under any certain conditions?" I continued.
"Well, if you complete the ritual during the middle phases of the moon, there's a lot more strength to our bond," he said looking out into the sky.
"Some bound-iees have such a good relationship with their spirit, they do the ritual every fortnight," he said.
"I only know rumors, never seen an actual in-person ritual of course, they usually happen behind closed doors," said Dragan.
"Is that a thing?" I asked. "How much do people pay for that, to watch it or whatever?" I asked curiously.
"Those are only rumors that come from inside the palace Edorough,"
"Nobles huh… They're always the most kinky."
"Kinky?" Dragan asked.
"Don't worry, forget about it for now. I'll explain later," I thought trying to push his question aside.
"So, when do we start?" I said leaning in. He was super embarrassed once again.
"I'd like to get to the village first before we start trying anything," he said holding up his hands.
I frowned.
Here I was thinking we could start practicing right now.
But I guess no such luck.
If he was keeping this close to his heart, he was doing a dam good job at hiding it. I never noticed he even had something like that to tell me. But I was so onboard that I was thankful such a magic ritual existed in the first place.
The floodgates were open on my side, and I could start being more cute around him, and more of myself.
At least now I felt secure and confident that for one reason or another, we were going to be ending up doing the ritual, as we were now officially soul bound. And I wasn't planning on going anywhere.
So I dropped my head on his thighs. He was surprised at first, but then just let me have it, he didn't move me or anything and didn't touch me, his hands were up in the air.
"You must know, I quite like you," I said, I couldn't see him because the robe covered my head, but I could tell his face became red again.
In my past life, something so quickly like this would have never happened. I was way too cautious around straight guys.
And even though Dragan might be straight (for now), the ritual made it clear that he was at least considering ways of completing it with me.
So that at least to me, made him bisexual.
He became much more relaxed as he got used to me wanting to be pampered.
He took my hood off and placed his hands softly around my hair, it was flowing naturally, even though there was no wind. He took strands of it and started playing softly with them.
My heart was racing, and my mind went blank, I couldn't think of a single thought, this was bliss. My nerves slowly started dissipating.
"We'll figure it out," I said.
"One step at a time, I want to stay with you Dragan, I want to learn more about this world with you, and explore every corner we can visit,"
"And we will," he said reassuringly. "All in due time."
The calm fire, the soft wind, and his warm hands against my body made me sleepy. I didn't know slimes had to sleep, but apparently, they did. I stayed in my human form all night, and we just cuddled, sleeping together, until morning came.
It had been one exhausting day.